02.02.08
Ting Ting Jahe Ginger Candy
Japanese Snack food is coming out of the walls around here! First it was the giant J-List Christmas extravaganza courtesy of badmovie, then DQ gifted the JSFR with some Christmas cheer and then, THEN I got back to work to find these fellas sitting on my chair. Our IT guy likes to come around and partake of the candy jar and he is perhaps the only other person who enjoys the Japanese snacks as much as I do. He’s Vietnamese so some of the things I pop into the candy jar remind him of home.
Little did he know that his New Year’s contribution to the work candy jar would be absconded for the JSFR. Muahahaha!
When my Favorite Guinea Pig and I head up north, I like to stop at the co-op up there and get me some ginger chews. Sadly, the chews I get are American made but lo! The IT guy found some Indonesian ginger chews and folks, Indonesia is close enough to JSFR. Also, the IT guy’s ginger chews are a little bit better.
It shouldn’t be such a surprise, my ginger chews don’t claim “Top Quality Good Taste”
Another difference is the inner edible wrapper. At least I hope it’s an inner edible wrapper because I edibled it. It tasted and acted like all the other edible rice paper wrappers so I’m going with that. It’s also less slimy and not as rice-y as any of the other wrappers that I’ve eaten.
The chew itself is zingy with ginger. Zippy! Also Spicy! Yow. No really, Yow. The chew is chewy in a nicely soft Gummy Bear/taffy kind of way (more chewy than my American counterpart actually) and sweet but also very, very gingery. I love it! One of my occasional guinea pigs isn’t so fond of the gingery explosion but several other coworkers have happily discovered the wonderfulness that is American ginger chews. I think they might like these even more and hey:
Rating of 4 wasabi peas out of a possible 5 wasabi peas.
BIBIANA RESTREPO said,
August 22, 2008 at 10:06 am
por favor me coloboran diciendome si en colombia se consiguen los GINGER CANDY. muchas gracias
Boo said,
September 4, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Oh wow. I so don’t speak…Spanish? But after babelfishing Bibiana’s comment, I *think* the question is where can one get this in Columbia. (?)
Bibiana: I have no idea. If you don’t have a local Asian snacks shop then your best bet is to probably order some online. I might start with J-List or go with something from The Ginger People or Reed’s. Or, you could always Google Ting Ting Jahe.
elena hayes said,
September 11, 2008 at 11:46 am
hola Bibiana,
los dulces son deliciosos, y tengo a mis companeros de trabajo adictos a ellos. yo pienso que depronto lo puedes conseguir en las tiendas naturistas, por ejemplo en bogota y medellin. o en un barrio chino, en fin, en donde hayan tiendas que sean administradas por personas asiaticas. Aca en los estados unidos se consigue en las tiendas de productos importados desde indonesia, vietnam, china y thailandia por unos $1.50 dolares el empaque con unos 20 dulces. No se si esto te ayude en algo. buena suerte en tu busqueda!
Conrad said,
March 22, 2009 at 9:39 am
Ummm………This is SOOO not Japanese. This is a product of Indonesia. Wow, stereotype.
Boo said,
March 22, 2009 at 10:06 am
Hi Conrad. You must have missed the little bit in the review where I said that these are Indonesian. It happens, no big.
Also, if you look to the side there on the main page, there is a page called HONORARY JSFR which explains that I go off culture a fair amount. I can’t read Japanese so sometimes that’s the issue but more often I find things that aren’t Japanese that I think people might like to know about. I put that disclaimer there, rather than say something in every single off culture entry because that would get repetitive fast.
Scotty said,
April 26, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Yea this is so made in Indonesia. But there are Japanese and Korean characters on the package if you can see them there so they are obviously being distributed there, so there may be a little misinfo there.　I can read the Japanese it says “Jyu u ga ame” which means the hard toffee or candy.
Scotty said,
April 26, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Sorry I meant ” ã—ï¼shiyu u ga ame” which means bitter toffee.
Scotty said,
April 28, 2009 at 10:09 am
Oh oops I reread the wrapper and it says “ã—ょã†ãŒã‚ã‚ï¼Shouga Ame” which directly translates to Ginger candy.. bitter toffee wasn’t too far off though~
Allan said,
May 16, 2009 at 6:54 pm
I love this candies, they are the best Ive tried so far. My mom loves all spicy things but for some reason she hated this =P
Boo said,
May 18, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Thanks for the translate Scotty!
I agree with you whole heartedly Allan, these ginger candies are tasty, bitey little beasts. Yum!
Allan said,
May 19, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Besides Boo, is a very VALUABLE present for those who hate their mother in-law =D
Augustus said,
March 19, 2010 at 6:21 pm
Hi. First time reading ur site so I’ll just say what I’ve come in contact with. I’ve LOVED those little pieces of heaven for much more than half my short (37yo) life. My mom loved hot food as well as any exotic foods. At some, nicer, Asian restauants they had the Ting Ting Jahe at the register instead of those nasty fecal mints a lot of greezyspoons have. I have gone through periods of want for those happy little chews. For me, the Ginger People brand ones stick to my dental work and are too sweet in my opinion. There are also MANY inferior brands that remind me of chewy sweet dirt, but luckily for me I live in NYC and an Asian area to boot so I can usually find them without too much suffering. Unfortunately, they no longer have that inner wrapper, but they still need to be stored properly and treated with the love and care they deserve. o
Boo said,
March 29, 2010 at 10:38 am
Hi Augustus! Oooo, I wold so totally go to a place that handed out Ting Ting Jahe as after dinner mints. Wikid! Good point about the dental work, I had not thought of that aspect of the stiffer ginger chews (which make Ting Ting Jahe even more awesome!)
Bowo said,
May 4, 2010 at 10:45 pm
Hi Boo, my name is Bowo from Indonesia. As Scooty said, Ting ting jahe is made in Indonesia. If you want to buy it, I can supply you or maybe, you want to have a business, selling this, as I know many people love it. Please contact me at byhisgrace_2010@yahoo.com